Pressure Solution #7 – Recall You at Your Best

FLASH BACK TO YOUR PREVIOUS SUCCESSES

A lack of confidence in high-pressure situations is common to many of us, so this pressure solution is sure to come in handy. The basic idea is that by visualizing your past successes in similar situations, you stimulate the same type of responses that helped you before. Pressure moments are filled with uncertainty you are uncertain that you will deliver the goods. Remembering your past successes ignites confidence you did it before and you can do it again. As your confidence increases, uncertainty (anxiety) and pressure are diminished, freeing you to approach the task with your best effort. Nervousness becomes transformed into positive enthusiasm that is directed to the task, rather than anxious thinking that is distracting. I’ve done it before. I can do it again is the mantra of this pressure solution.

Flashing back to your previous successes is also helpful to you in pressure situations that call for a strong performance over a sustained period of time, like supervising a months-long project at work. For these pressure scenarios, take a page from someone who successfully climbed Mount Everest: One of my most useful strategies to keep me positive, confident that I’d make the summit, was to think of past climbs, or even earlier moments in the current climb. These images helped me a lot. I’d get a surge of energy when I needed it, and it made going through the tough time easier.

Here’s an exercise to help you perfect this pressure solution:

Make a list of the times you were successful (when you were at your best) in pressure moments.

Sitting in a comfortable chair, regulate your breathing to a comfortable level.

Relive these successful pressure moments, focusing on all the right things you did in each situation. Take your time: The point is to use all your senses â€” sounds, sights, smells â€” to relive the experience.

Conclude each scene by saying, I did it.

Repeat the process until you find yourself momentarily flashing back to your successes in your pressure moments.

If you have an interview or presentation coming up, or if you find yourself writing under deadline pressure, remembering a past success will remind you, I’ve done it before. Recalling that, you will probably do it again.

This is an excerpt from Performing Under Pressure.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JP Pawliw-Fry is co-author of the New York Times bestselling book, Performing Under Pressure. He is keynote speaker, and the founder of IHHP, a global research and learning company that specializes in helping organizations and leaders leverage the science of emotional intelligence and performing under pressure. The research and strategies presented in the book, keynotes and in IHHP’s training programs have been leveraged by numerous Fortune 100 companies, including long-term relationships with Johnson and Johnson, PWC, Goldman Sachs, HSBC as well as Olympic medal winning athletes. (Co-author: Hendrie Weisinger.)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Co-authored by our own J.P. Pawliw-Fry, Performing Under Pressure will introduce you to the concept of pressure management, offering the latest science on how your brain responds under pressure, and many empirically tested strategies to help you overcome the sabotaging effects of pressure. For this book, we undertook a multiyear study of over twelve thousand people to answer the question: what is it about the top 10 percent of these individuals that helps them handle pressure more effectively and be successful? The book has been featured in featured in Forbes, INC., The Financial Times, Training Magazine and many more, and is a NYT and Amazon bestseller. Order your copy onAmazon, Barnes and Noble, Audible or Apple ibooks.

ABOUT IHHP

IHHP is a research-based training company and has been a leader in Emotional Intelligence for over twenty years.

We build integrated programs with training, assessments and coaching based on neuroscience for real change. We translate the science behind managing emotions and teach people the skills to summon their best selves and do their best work during moments of truth.